A Vanillian Odyssey

[Bob]

So I hop back in to see what the crew is up to. The General and I look up at the stars he says we should ask the audience where our next stop will be. Took scoot for ride upwards to scan the sectors. We know it wasn’t necessary to check the sector map in space but it was cool to do any way…

Bromalis Says it only has Magnesium. Since space mining is currently cancerous, we will skip that sector for now. Irdon orbit only has iron but the planet and moon are showing a variety of lovely gems.

Scandus’s snowy surface has some gems like neo that we will be needing for future CV exploration. Just not seeing zascosium at the moment. Making mental note to conserve the red rock.

So we will need to prep for either direction. I imagine there will be plenty to explore once we arrive. Want to make sure we have the basics. Running home isn’t always the best option. Making a poll post for where should we go next, the frigid lands of Scandus or the murky swamps of Irdon?

“Choose our destiny…”

Irdonian swamp lands or the glaciers of Scandus?

Those that have been following Mo and crew on our adventures through The Vanillian Nebula have a chance to decide our fate. We will need to prep for the journey and it will take some time to make sure there are as little mishaps as possible. Help us choose the next step in our journey if you would. For those that have a huge question mark on their faces right now, go here: https://forum.empyrion-homeworld.net/t/a-vanillian-odyssey/22011/ poll

[Bob]

So back to excursion preparations we pick some plants and see this when putting them in the fridge. I sorted the mess before taking a screen shot. It was not pretty.

So as I am looking at the food replicator for what cures food poisoning, the purple and blue anti-toxic pills, I see that spoiled food is a constructable material. Investigation reveals something I knew about long ago but have not had to use in a while. Spoiled food if a key ingredient in making nutrient solution. I have had a lot of plant plots in my OCD on HWS servers for some time now and with the DSL plant killer on the loose, I nearly forgot how to garden in this game.

So after some deep thought I recall someone once telling me a tale about eating spoiled food in game and how it is a requirement. Thank you for that wonderful superstition. If you are reading this, you KNOW who you are. My realization was that the ghost in the machine was only trying to open my eyes. Either way, new mission: Crushed Stoner Endeavor…Scoot looks so peaceful when he is sleeping. We will take him for a ride in the morning.

Scoot enjoys a few rays of morning sunshine as we start our day. A previous map marker catches our attention so we head in for a closer look.

Sounds promising…

A few natives were grumpily shouting about their lawn or some nonsense.

The General knows how to diffuse the situation…

I thought there were 4 of you?

There you are!

Found a couple more hiding in the bushes.

Base doesn’t seem to have any turrets on the outside but a little ground opposition.

Going to set down a bit away to make repairs.

Everyone is getting action today

Pro Tip #32: Insure correct firing method

The painful lessons we learn. With a little bit of time and a lot of patience, crushed stone can make just about anything…

Got sick of extracting crushed stone from the ground with a survival tool. Hit F2 to see what we can work with fast and notice a nice little surprise ready to spawn. Was a train of thought derailed a while ago…

Quickly got back to base in search of a cockpit and remember the hockey puck from space we started and derailed as well.

The NPC core in it was very handy for this rescue.

You shall be called Negan. You are our savior.

[Bob]

Still feeling like garbage, I took some cold medicine after that last entry and it put me down fast. Not sure where we left the gang before my drowsy stumble to bed. Waking feeling like crapo. Downing day time cold meds and getting ready for work. I just hope it won’t be a hectic day. We shall rejoin the crew this evening…

[Bob]

Really wish we had CV medical stations here in real life…Maybe one day there will be a NyQnuil A thu Z cure all but for today we suffer less than the last generations did before and so on…

Now back to our Oddly Crew. Where we left off? We are about to find out together

[Bob]

This is where we left after Negan saving the day.

Tried to sleep but there were Mo fans about. Was so cute to hear this little fella then seem him slowing walk out from behind the tree…

Mo had a few night shows.

Ended up pitching a tent to get some sleep

Made sure I had the repair gun this time and fixed Scoot up. When T finished repairs, we thought he is in the perfect position already and headed to space.

Pointed to the moon and remembered we still had a bit of loot left to snatch from the PDA mission. Headed to kill the core on the Polaris mining ship and scoop up anything we find. Missed this sign earlier. Don’t worry Finn, Mo told them how we feel

Didn’t have to run back through the maze once the core was down

Started chewing my way back to scoot and found a couple of Mo’s heavy metal fans looking for a tune.

Not a bad haul. Most of it came from Mr. T’s Salvage. He hated me saying that btw

Ended the day by heading back to HWS for dailies and another amazing sunset. Cold meds kicking in again so we are calling it an early night. The adventure continues tomorrow.

[Bob]

Feeling a little better this morning. Not 100% but getting there. No work tomorrow so hoping it will be an eventful night in Vanillia. Thinking of causing trouble on the Zirax moon finally. I’m sure there has got to be some decent loot there. Plan is to fix up Negan for the trip.

[Bob]

Well got home early from work and was able to spend time with my granddaughter before her mother came to take her away from us She did visit for a long time though because my little snow pea was snuggling comfortably. But now it’s time to gear up and see what trouble we can find on that moon. Coffee brewing…

[Bob]

Happy New Year adventurers! Be safe out there in your own travels.

The gang showed up for an end of the year group photo

Enjoying a quick sunset for loading up.

Should be enough to get Negan there and back.

Guess who’s back? Back again…Picked an unexplored spot and rolling the dice. Come on nat-20…

Was notified of a POI and parked Negan behind a ridge to be safe. Got close to the wreck and was nailed by a rocket from this base…

While getting pelted by this guy.

Sent my drone up to get a lay of the land and this was the last thing he saw before vaporizing

Sorry gang, we need a little more firepower to take the moon. Mo reminds me again that there are still Zirax on the planet just dying for a show. I giggled and we decided to call it quits again.

So we gather fallen scraps from the floating firing squad and head back. Along the way I figured it would be a good idea to attach a couple crucial assets to another NPC core we snagged from the Polaris mining blunder. We will give this one more attention another time.

There were a couple of these floating around. Could make good use of them depending on how long this adventure goes on

[Bob]

Back on the planet we loaded up and headed back to the Spaceport we spied on last time.

They called for reinforcements. Mo made short work of them with his famous tunes.

Wanted to give the general some action and scoped a couple victims as well.

Got stuck in the middle of a few of Mo’s heavy metal fans for death #7.

Running from one frying pan to another I was able to rescue the gang.

Now with the ground opposition suppressed, we can take a look inside. “Oh hello there!”

They just throw themselves at Mo sometimes.

It’s odd how they just leave these things laying around like this. Would be a shame if someone…

Was surprised by this guy after going back ouside. Mo sang out to them and they took off in a hurry without dropping anyone off

So we decided to level the place

Stopped at our O2 farm on the way back and saw a family of XP taking a drink. I left one alive to tell the tale

Got back home to sort the loot and heard this guy snooping around. He was checking out the entire base.

Mo and I followed him around for a bit while watching the sunset and finally gave him his goodnight song.

[Bob]

Spent most of the day neglecting the gang. With the new season approaching I was in creative trying to come up with new CPU compliant builds. Ended up getting frustrated playing the numbers game and finished with a small mining CV that will get torn to shreds in hostile environments. But it does have a great view for mining and/or dying

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1956286909

[Bob]

Ok real sick of creative so I’m back from work and heading in to see what the gang is all up to…
We discussed it and said this is a decent spot to look for trouble. Scoot suggested we go light and check the area out before taking Negan out there. “I don’t think those sentry guns he has will match to base turrets well.” I saw the logic since Scoot has been shot at a couple times in past experiences.

Those do look like base turrets…Oh hi Mr Zarax laser man! Did not see you there. Don’t worry, Mo will be back to play with you all.

After dodging a few bullets, Scoot convinced me to investigate all the Zirax locations so we can plan taking them out one by one. He seems to have a few decent ideas today.

We were notified of a shelter near by. Figured we would give it a go.

Said hi to the local Talon patrol. Was growled at.

Found nothing of interest in the shelter until it started raining. Was interesting to see rain lag shot through the walls. Tried to screen shot it but couldn’t hit it just right.

Drone base got a few shots off on us as we got closer. Didn’t seem to hurt much but kept our distance in case.

Found 2 defence towers on the other side of the drone base. We got right up to it before it started firing. Not sure who was at the controls or what they were shooting at but it was not us. Decided to dip before they figured out their targeting systems.

Ooo a floaty base. Marked you for later

Didn’t notice how much fuel I didn’t have until I looked at that last screen shot so rushed to get back to the base. Made it just in time. Scoot said he was never worried.

“Tis but a flesh wound.” Scoot the comedian says to us. He knows how much I hate Monty Python so he tries to rub it in all the time. prick…

Safe back home we talked it over. The crew thinks I should go back to creative to build a little tank for those bases. Back in the shop we go…

[Bob]

Meet Skip. He will let us know what is needed to take down a Zirax base.

[Bob]

So we just need a few things to get our new tank spawned in.

Sorry little guy. I guess you can live up to your name at least

For those that laugh at salvaging lots of steel plates: Ha!

We docked Skip to Negan and headed over to stir up some trouble in the north.

When we got there Negan wanted to light up some of the Zirax on foot. A couple of them brought rocket launchers and took out all but one of his sentry guns and the advanced constructor. Pulled away a little and hop in our newly spawned tank. Skip’s dual rocket launchers made short work of those turrets. The 15mm was nice for swatting drones and ground troops.

Knock knock!

Don’t you know to ask who is at the door before just opening to any knock? Silly Zirax

And here is what we came for. After Mo takes this out, it’s time for T to start “remodeling” the place

See this guy floating around after finishing tearing down the top 2 floors, “You are next!” says T.

Redecoration complete. Time to see that other floating monstrosity.

Right about here I noticed my rockets stopped firing. Ran out of rockets. Come to find out they were put into Negan earlier when I was shuffling loot around. Wish I would have checked him before going all the way back to the base…

On the way back Negan tried picking a fight with this guy. Was so cute to see them running from his single sentry gun.

And now we say goodnight after adding a little more firepower to Negan. We have a few more targets for Skip to choose from next round. I would say he did pretty good his first run.

[Bob]

Home from work and coffee is brewed. Ready to cause some trouble with the gang. Hop in and listen to Mo howl at the moon

Good morning General. Are we ready for some action?

We just couldn’t resist. Didn’t work

Mo and Negan seem eager. “Time to see that shrine and save those Zirax from the burden of loot.” snickers Negan.

Skip took out all the lower turrets like a breeze. He was able to nail a couple top ones from the ground but a couple gave him trouble. Negan gave him a lift to take care of the rest.

Anybody home?

I guess he doesn’t want our money

Mo paid him with one of his favorite songs, “Who’s hostile now?”

Took me a few but I found it

This little gem gave us a new crew member. She said her name is Red. She is a little quiet at the moment. We will talk more at the base.

There wasn’t much other loot so T decided to rip the base up till he ran out of ammo. Skip and Negan work quite well together. I think they are starting to become good friends

Red and I enjoyed a wonderful sunrise when we got home. I’m sure she will fit in quite nicely.

[Bob]

Good morning adventures! Right now I’m waiting to see if my caffeine chooses to use it’s powers for good or evil today

[Bob]

The attention deficit train ran me into creative. Don’t remember where it started but ended up on an HV miner. Moves well for what we have to work with. Try it out.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1959537655

Also been working on a new garage ship in the background. Sneak peeks not available yet

[Bob]

A radiation storm rolled in shortly after i rejoined. Red enjoyed the lightning show.

Such a busy storm today. Was able to catch a strike on cam finally

Looking at ammo stock I saw Skip could use more homing rockets. Then I soon find out we are out of magnesium. Seeing how we are now friendly with Polaris and Talon from wrecking so many Zirax toys, we decided to check out the local markets. Took Scoot out for a spin around the globe.

Stopped at an outpost for a moment to check out a cool looking crossbow.

The Talon have fun looking toys

Got here just in time to chill with this dude watching the sunrise. He growled a bit. It was expected.

Not nearly as much as this guy growled though. I guess someone must have fed him after midnight…

Talon trader was only a farmer but did have a little magnesium powder. Time to check out to see what Polaris has to offer. I just hope somebody remembers where we parked.

They are interested in your well being so much that they neglect their own mining crew’s well being to bring you strange and exotic resources from all over the galaxy

This mall security guy kept eyeballing me. Must have thought I was going to steel something…

Time to make some fake money. Loaded up some gold, copper, and refined pentax and made about 40k.

Scoot and I caught a great sunrise on the way back. Now time to grind up a few more rockets so we can take a visit to Zirax town. I hear they are just dying to see us perform

[Bob]

Hopped over to HWS for dailies just in time to catch this on camera

[Bob]

Took Negan and Skip and investigated this area. Took a few shots from quite a few different sources. The anti aircraft turret had homing rockets that nailed our left turret. Was able to strip turrets off all the rest of the bases and headed back.

Don’t worry little buddy, we will get you some more firepower. So back to creative we go.

[Bob]

After refitting Skip I decide to give Scoot a few mods as well. Join in and start prepping the blueprint factory. Looking at the map I notice this unexplored section and take scoot out for a last run before a rebuild…

“This looks like a nice morsel for later.” Says T with an odd grin…

Get notified that we are in Zirax territory as well as a crashed ship nearby. Scoot suggests we pitch a tent and crack this open in day light.

Wake to another wonderful sunrise. T starts tearing down the wreckage for a nice breakfast before we head out.

Guess he was hungry after seeing that floating artifact earlier.

Continuing the unexplored area we found a decent sized Polaris city.

I smell a market Hoping to find some goodies here.

Oh those CPU extenders…

Found my money makers.

Of course they have a drug dealer…err I mean a licensed pharmacist. Went back and forth from the base with me loot making some cash. Have a little over 300k now.

Back after shopping it was time to spawn the boys. Skip was eager to get started so we docked to Negan and headed to that newly found Zirax base in the south.

Started out by putting that last entry and heard explosions. Flipped back to see that Skip has targeted a space slug with his shiny new weapons and did not seem to care that Negan was in the crossfire. Negan says not to worry and press on. His core is still intact. So we adjust the targeting systems to ignore foot soldiers to be smrt!

Zoom in with the arty and see a couple drones and not many base turrets. “This is gonna be cake!” says Skip. We head in rockets a blazing.

Wasn’t able to screen shot any of it because it happened so fast. The base had 4 turrets that Skip took out quite nicely. I noticed that his rockets were not shooting the drones. I was about to turn the targeting systems back on drones when I heard Mo say that he could make short work of those 2 puny drones. I hop out, forgetting I was not in first person view and had no cross hairs, I try to take cover in the hangar of the base. This is what I fell into:

So I quickly think spawn at Negan, turn on weapons, fly over and use the registry to turn on Skips targeting systems as well so we can rescue the crew. I spawn in and find that Skip killed the cockpit on Negan…

Need to brew some coffee for the next batch of critical thinking…be back to tell you how it all (doesn’t) work out